The Karen Clarke Collection contains 39 reels of 16 mm. amateur film. The collection was shot between 1926 and 1964 by her father, Simmons Brown, of Falmouth, Maine. Many reels depict the family's recreational activities at Lac Wayagamac, La Tuque, Quebec, Canada; and at Falmouth, Maine, including scenes of boating, fishing, hiking, horse-riding, skiing, and sled dog racing. Travel films include scenes at Charleston, North Carolina, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. Many family events and celebrations are depicted: Christmas and July 4th holidays; birthdays; the 50th anniversary of Simmons and Mary Brown; and several weddings, including the wedding of Karen and Gordon Brown in 1954. Among the most noteworthy film in the collection is amateur documentation of Charles Lindbergh and "The Spirit of St. Louis" at Orchard Beach, Maine, in July 1927. Maine Memory Network

Biographical/Historical Notes

Karen Brown Clarke of Bay Square at Yarmouth and Falmouth, Maine, was born in 1925 in her grandparents’ house on State Street, Portland, to Mary Fletcher Brown and Simmons Brown. She married Gordon Clarke in 1954.
Karen was a graduate of the Waynflete School of Portland and Smith College. An early environmentalist, she was a founder and chair of the Simsbury, CT Conservation Commission and served on its elected Zoning Board for 10 years, the last four as its chair. She also made time to sing in the chorus of the well-known Simsbury Light Opera Company which specialized in Gilbert and Sullivan shows.
As her daughters Kristina and Amanda grew older, she joined Gordon, becoming a rated water paddler with the Appalachian Mountain Club, climbing some of the highest mountains in New England and taking extended wilderness canoe trips in Maine, Quebec, Ontario and the Northwest Territories. On one such trip she searched out and photographed a rare tundra lily as past of a Garden Club of Hartford research project.
Balancing these outdoor activities, Karen started a new career, becoming a cataloger for a large private library of rare books on ornithology. When that collection was donated to Trinity College, Karen was named the Curator of its Ornithology Collection, a post she held until her retirement and in which she created acclaimed annual exhibitions and catalogues of the library’s remarkable holdings.

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